Dem Senator Patty Murray Pulls Ahead In Washington

The race is now divided by 2% or 27,000 votes. That doesn’t seem like much, but Murray’s lead was just 14,000, so that’s a big jump when you consider how much ground her challenger, Dino Rossi, would have to make up.

Rossi’s vote percentage slipped from where it had been on Election Day in 18 of 22 counties that had reported new totals as of 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The most significant drop came in King County, home to nearly a third of the state’s registered voters. Rossi received about 33 percent of the King County votes counted Wednesday, down from 38 percent on Election Day.

“The King County numbers are devastating for Rossi,” said Matt Barreto, political-science professor at the University of Washington, who said he felt even more confident in his election-night analysis predicting a Murray win.